After a long period of down time at work, things have started to pick up. I was just teasing one of my colleagues the other because he said he was so bored at work. I told him to relax for once because you never know when things would get hectic again. True enough, it happened today. I am soooo tired and I didn't even finish everything that I had planned on doing. I wish there were more hours in a day...
We have been looking for a chance to augment our income for quite some time now. Jer is in the process of acquiring his permanent visa and he has decided to find a stable job when that comes through. The other day, though, we were met with an opportunity that seems too good to pass up. The sari-sari store downstairs closed because the owners left for the province and it is up for grabs. We really want to get it as the rent is only a little more than what we are paying now and we can live in the back area. The floor area of the whole unit is almost double what we have now and we can use a small portion of the front as the store.
My problem is that we are kinda broke and we need some cash to start it up. Payday Loans are an option. With a payday loan, most anyone can get up to $1500 in cash and pay it off within a relatively short period of time. This company that I am looking at operates online and conducts transactions 24/7 all over the US. It is very easy to acquire a payday loan from them - just go online and fill out their form. The best thing is that they do not require a credit check for approval!
Maybe we can ask Jer's sister to help us out in this regard. This will be a very good opportunity for both of us...crossing my fingers!
Jer just said that to me. Followed by "Then you have to stop working and maybe then I can talk to my wife."
I feel kinda guilty because I stay at work all day and then come home late at night only to write. We talk while I work but I guess it's not enough. Then again, I have to work.
I don't want to stop in 10 minutes but I will.
If there is one thing that I have learned from my current job (and believe me, I have learned a LOT), it is that you should NOT take everything personally. The nature of my job makes it a sensitive one, prone to dislike and misunderstanding. As such, we tend to get a lot of flak.
In the beginning, I was very much rattled by these things. Today, I witnessed a colleague going through pretty much what I have been through before. It is nerve wracking. It is disappointing. It makes you want to lash out in anger.
After a while, though, you get to realize that it is not targeted at you personally. It is something that comes with the job and all that you have to do is let the emotions subside, try your best to put yourself in the other person's shoes, and do what you can to diffuse the situation.
Everyone feels the need for self-improvement every once in a while. Sometimes this could apply to personal growth, sometimes to professional growth. I have been thinking about where I would have been had I pursued what I studied in college. It's not that I do not like my job right now - in fact, I love it (ask my husband, he'll testify to that!). Still, with what I have been hearing about the field of IT today, it makes me wonder how things could have been different.
Perhaps in the future, I could still make a move towards IT. After all, I am not that behind in this field. Still, I know that before I could even consider this, I need to be able to get some real and up to date training.
One important training that I have to get would be Cisco certification. I know a friend working in IT field and he mentioned how it would be very beneficial to get Cisco certified if you were to get ahead. Here in the Philippines, the IT sector is booming like nothing else. In our office building alone, perhaps 80 percent of the companies are working in IT-related business. You can just imagine the options available to the IT professional.
Then again, it is also true that there is a lot of competition for good jobs. That is why even if I have had IT-related training, I doubt that I would be able to cut it without further studies. I don't mean going back to the university either. The Cisco Learning Network looks to be really promising in this regard. With tons of resources and a wide network of IT professionals, this site can provide any individual in the IT field to get that edge that he needs.
It could be my cheap disposable lenses or it could be the fact that I spend almost a hundred percent of my waking hours in front of a computer - I don't know which is to blame but I do know that I find myself having to squint more and more while working.
I really need new glasses and as I posted yesterday, I am looking at frames at zennioptical.com. Here's another one that has caught my eye.
Sometimes I think that I have an addictive personality (not sure about the term). What I mean by this is that when I get to like something, I tend to depend on it a lot. Take writing. I think I am addicted to it. My jobs. I can't sit still for long without working. Then there are video games. Once I start playing, I find it hard to stop for sometime.
We already have a PSP and a PS3 and we also play PC games. Yet sometimes, I still find myself wanting to try other consoles. Maybe a Wii for Christmas? Or how about an xbox 360? I am sure that as great as the PS3 is, these other consoles have other unique things to offer - and to get addicted to.
Oooh, did I mention that there is this new mini laptop that has caught my attention? (More about that in the near future.)
I've heard of the mid-week slump but what about the slump you feel on Mondays? Monday blues is the better term perhaps? I never really relished Mondays but yesterday was one of the worst I have had, in terms of my inner drive.
I was at work. I accomplished a lot. My productivity was good. But somehow, I didn't feel good inside. I hate it when this happens because I love my work and I actually look forward to going to work most of the time.
Maybe I am too worried about other things that are going on in my life. Then again, those should not affect my job. Leave your worries at home, that's my mantra.
Oh well, I feel better today.
Everyone got all worked up yesterday when news came out that there would be a new tax exemption scheme for all working Filipinos. I don't really understand the nitty gritty except that the end result would be that we would be taking home MORE each payday! Apparently, Senator Mar Roxas proposed a bill that would increase (by a whole lot) the tax exemption for everyone. Of course, the higher the exemption, the less that can be taxed and the more that you can take home.
Our CFO was beset by queries yesterday - everyone was trying to confirm the news. He said that yes, the bill is now a law BUT we have to wait for the IRR (the document which states in detail how the scheme is going to be carried out), which should be out within 15 days.
The best thing about this? The law is retroactive! That means we get rebates from January to June. Woohoo!
It feels weird. I am used to being at work on weekdays but today, my back kept me from leaving the house. I promised myself that I would go to the doctor today if my back still hurt - and I was really going to.
Alright, I have to admit it - I have a strong aversion toward hospitals. Though I had made up my mind to see the doc today, I somehow found myself taking more painkillers and sleeping it off instead.
I feel somewhat better tonight - really. I was even able to do a bit of work today while lying in bed. It wasn't such a bad Monday after all.
One last thing - I really wish I could work from home full time.
I've always held the belief that you can never stop learning and improving yourself. I am glad that people at work hold the same belief - we are actually creating processes and taking courses to help improve our work flow as well as ourselves in relation to the job.
One of the things that we are looking at right now is Six Sigma Black Belt Training. Six Sigma is one of the most popular methodologies followed by many companies all around the world. One company that seems to hold much promise is Smarter Solutions. They have extensive experience in Lean Six Sigma and offers practical business solutions to their clients.
Nothing is set in stone yet but this is surely a step towards improvement.
I write for a living. I do have a "regular" office job but I still consider my freelance writing a major source of income. I really love doing it - it gives me the extra income that comes in very handy and it gives me pleasure as well.
Lately, though, I have been lagging on my writing assignments. Oh, I still turn them in on time but I do have my own schedule that I have set for myself. I do this so that I will be sure to turn them in on time - so in effect, I have two deadlines. Lately, I have been missing MY deadlines.
I have also noticed that sometimes, I do not feel the urge to write. (My personal blog is a different matter - I think I am becoming obsessed with it!)
Can it be that I am writing/working too much?
It happened once and it happened again - the hard drive in my laptop crashed! When it happened a month or so ago, I was not that alarmed. The IT guys were able to fix it in a snap. Today, though, it seemed as if it was not going to be fixed! They were all alarmed and were saying that since the laptop is still under warranty, they would just have to replace the hard disk.
That's fine - except that I had tons of files on the hard disk. Since this is my work laptop I am talking about, you can just imagine what a disaster that would be if recovery of the files was not a possibility!
I prayed - hard - and thank God, they were able to do something about it. A word of warning was given to me, though. The hard disk seems bound to fail any time so I should back up my files.
Burn session all day for me!
The past year has been unbelievably busy and stressful for me in terms of work. I would like to believe that I handle stress pretty well. Some may disagree with me but all I know is that despite the stress and all the flak, I still get my work done. Last week really put me to the test, though.
Let's just say that I was looking forward to the next 2 months as a time to catch up on the backlog at work. That also means some degree of breathing space for me and my workmates. Unfortunately, we realized that we had made a miscalculation which means that we are going to have to work harder than ever under pressure.
Anyhow, the night I heard the news, I got home feeling really tired and I dozed off more easily than usual. My hopes of getting a good night's sleep faded early in the night as I started dreaming about the list of people that we have to evaluate for an additional cycle. I know I probably am not making any sense but I just had to write this down.
Dreaming about work...lists...tasks...this is bad enough. Having to wake up three times and having the same dream over and over again is another thing altogether - and I thought I handled things well!
On a lighter and more positive note, I am planning on starting a blog with Jerry. I think it would be good to write down our experiences "on paper." I want it to be for us, primarily, but if we start earning something along the way, it would be even better.
